“What kind of roadmap is this where a military-backed government can brazenly disappear former presidential aides for 150 days without any explanation? Forcibly disappearing people for months on end doesn’t inspire confidence that this government intends to follow the rule of law.”

"An enforced disappearance also constitutes a “continuous” crime under international law: it persists, and continues to inflict suffering on the victim’s family, as long as the fate of the missing person is unknown or concealed. The UN Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, proclaimed by the General Assembly in 1992, recognizes the practice of “disappearances” as a violation of the rights to due process, liberty, and security of a person."

On July 3, 2013, the Egyptian military forcibly and illegally detained Khaled Al-Qazzaz, a Canadian-educated mechanical engineer, human rights activist and former school principal. His Toronto-born wife, Sarah Attia, has been raising awareness about his situation with the hopes of bringing him back home to her and their four children.